PALS (Parents as Learners ) Session Episode “Gamify Your Learning”

PALS (Parents as Learners ) Session

Episode “Gamify Your Learning”

Written by Arya Fikri Akbar, S.Pd.

Here we go, another comunicative session of teachers and parents, PALS. The goal is, nonetheless, to bring the atmosphere of learning in the class to homes of parents. It is the session to promote learning for the parents as they can also absorb was has been taught and follow the fun activities.

The other advantage of it is to introduce the concept on how to teach the materials at home with their children. The session of PALS in Grade 4 is all about on how to put gamification concept into the learning, especially in English subject.

I, as the teacher in charge of the session started it by the positive vibes brought by putting the gamification in the learning. The discussion was escalating when all parents stated that they feel happy, engaged, competitive, better communication in teamwork while they are playing games. Those kind of feelings make learning alive and effective. “By putting the gamification into the learning can make the focus retention of learning process increasing,” as I stated more to support the concept of gamification that I practiced in my English classes.

The session continued by the intrduction to several applications that I apply in the class. They were mostly applied for three types of assessment, as well as for the ice breaker, too. Quizlet, Gimkit and Blooket are the main apps that had been introduced to the students. As for this PALS session, I introduced how to use the Quizlet as the digital flashcards and also to play Gimkit. Those apps are also applied as my forms of assessments. The hilarious ambience started when all the parents were enthusiastic and joyful to play variety of modes of Gimkit. Subconsciously, the parents were all agreed that gamification indeed enhance the students’ engagement in the learning process.

I ended up the session by a famous quote of George Bernard Shaw (a playwright, Nobel Prize winner for Literature in 1925) “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”